Soul, the heart of the Exchange

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This article was published 21/02/2024 (911 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The awning outside may still say Fleet Galleries, but there’s a new soul inside the Exchange District space.

Julie Walsh, the owner and curator of Soul Gallery — a unique contemporary art gallery located in her Riverview home — has opened a second location at 65 Albert St., where Fleet Galleries had operated for 40 years until it closed in December 2023.

A gallery and storefront is something Walsh had been thinking about for a while. In October, she ran a successful pop-up gallery in the Exchange District, “and it just felt right to be in the neighbourhood,” she says, sitting in her new office.

The airy main gallery space is filled with works by 26 contemporary artists represented by Soul Gallery, ready for the gallery’s official grand opening on Thursday night. Emma, Walsh’s cocker spaniel, is nosing around.

Walsh feels as at home here as she does in Soul Gallery’s first location — which is saying something, considering that is her actual home. She’s hoping that the two iterations of Soul Gallery, which offer different art-viewing experiences, will raise the profiles of each other.

“I respect both spaces. People have loved the home gallery, seeing the art in situ — but it’s also been the best-kept secret in Winnipeg,” she says. “Opening here, it’s time to be more visible and accessible and to reach a broader market.

“I believe my artists need to be seen in the broadest way. I’m so humbled and proud to be representing them.”

Walsh, 70, isn’t afraid of starting a new chapter — nor of following her passion.

She had a full career in dentistry before taking the leap and starting her own interior design company, Beautiful Spaces Design. The curation and inclusion of art has always been important to her as a designer.

“What I love doing is bringing soul to a space,” she says. “There’s beautiful design, but wow, when you can complete a space with original art and sculpture, it just breathes soul into the space. And soul is what nourishes us, feeds us, fuels us. I think we really need to be reminded that there is beauty and harmony in the world, because we’re confronted so much with the opposite.”

Walsh’s eye didn’t go unnoticed. In the early 2000s, the artists she was working with began nudging her to start a gallery.

“And I said, ‘You’re crazy,’” she recalls with a laugh. “I know nothing about art. I’m not an art-history student. I haven’t studied. But my artists would say I have a sensibility around art and tastefully know how to curate a space.”

In 2010, Walsh was traveling in Turkey when she had an epiphany: now was the time to open a gallery.

Soul Gallery’s novel “art gallery in a home” concept — which opened at 163 Clare Ave. in 2012 — was a natural extension of her design work, allowing patrons to see and interact with art in a context different from a traditional gallery.

“People have come in from across the country and America and they say they’ve never seen anything quite like that experience at 163 Clare,” Walsh says.

Walsh opens the doors to her home every Saturday afternoon, save for holiday weekends, which requires a fair amount of work. But she loves it.

“I’m personable. I love people. I love hospitality. I love sharing a beautiful space,” Walsh says.

“People say, ‘How can you possibly open your home like this?’ (My family) had a general store in the Ottawa Valley when I was a girl, so from the time I was little, people would walk through and tour our house.

“Maybe that’s part of it, but I don’t think that’s the main thing. I’m a person who really loves to offer hospitality and for people to come in and just connect and feel at home and enjoy.”

Walsh is excited about the new opportunities the Exchange District space will offer. A new series of artists talks and demonstrations will begin in March, and she already has four solo exhibitions booked from April until August. Soul Gallery will also be offering framing services like its predecessor.

The response to Soul’s Albert Street presence has been overwhelmingly positive, Walsh says. “Certainly our contact list and artists, locally, abroad, people coming in off the street and just saying, ‘Wow, am I ever glad that this has remained a gallery and a framing shop.’”

Soul Gallery’s grand opening at 65 Albert St. is Thursday, Feb. 22, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., with live music and refreshments.

jen.zoratti@winnipegfreepress.com